


How wonderful life could be

by gilleboll



Series: Lightwood-Bane family [1]
Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare
Genre: And then this happened, Babies, Domestic Fluff, Drabble, Family Fluff, M/M, Short & Sweet, i was reading born to endless night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 07:33:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20404003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gilleboll/pseuds/gilleboll
Summary: “Alec?”No answer. Magnus didn’treallyknow what he’d expected to come home to, but it sure wasn’t silence. Max had been fussing (and periodically, screaming bloody murder) since the crack of dawn and had shown no signs of stopping when Magnus left to run some errands. He hadn’t wanted to leave Alec alone with the baby and without anyone to relieve him from parenting duty, but heroic as he was, Alec had insisted that it was fine. Now though, Magnus found himself wondering if it had indeed been fine.An afternoon in Magnus and Alec's early days as fathers.





	How wonderful life could be

“Alec?” 

No answer. Magnus didn’t _ really _ know what he’d expected to come home to, but it sure wasn’t silence. Max had been fussing (and periodically, screaming bloody murder) since the crack of dawn and had shown no signs of stopping when Magnus left to run some errands. He hadn’t wanted to leave Alec alone with the baby and without anyone to relieve him from parenting duty, but heroic as he was, Alec had insisted that it was fine. Now though, Magnus found himself wondering if it had indeed been fine. He shrugged out of his coat and banished it into the closet with an absent snap of his fingers. He ventured further into the apartment, still with no sign of his boyfriend, or his child, or even his cat. 

“Alexander?” he tried again, and still he was met with silence. _ Maybe he’s gone out, _ Magnus told himself. Well, might as well try and get some work done while he could. He entered the living room, which was getting more and more cluttered with each passing day of life with a baby. 

He was just going to grab a couple of books he’d left on the coffee table last night and then he’d— oh. Oh! Apparently Alec hadn’t gone out after all. No, Magnus noticed that not only were Alec’s boots lying on the hardwood floor, but Alec himself was sprawled out on the couch, soundly asleep with Chairman Meow curled up on his stomach. Nestled in the crook of his arm, safely resting between Alec’s lean body and the backrest of the couch, also sleeping, was Max. The sight of his family like this made Magnus want to clutch at his heart. He didn’t do that, though. Instead, he made to fish his phone out of his pocket. In his fight to do so, he nearly slipped on a stuffed animal that had been unceremoniously dropped on the floor behind his feet. He hissed a series of swears under his breath as he stumbled, then he quickly shut himself up and silently prayed that his less than smooth retrieval of his phone hadn’t woken anyone up. Perhaps he should look in to investing in a few pairs off less tight-fitting pants. He’d think about it. But first, he had to snap a picture of this scene. Who knew if he’d ever witness such serenity again? Life as a father was wonderful, but it was anything but calm. He took a few pictures and texted his favorites to Isabelle, as per her request upon officially becoming an aunt. She was quick to reply, probably with something sappy, though Magnus ignored the text message in favor of watching Max and Alec sleep for a little bit longer. Max was resting his little blue head against Alec’s side. He looked peaceful, like perhaps he’d actually stopped fussing before falling asleep. He seemed perfectly content where he lay, protected from anything that might want to harm him. Alec also looked peaceful, under the obvious layer of “exhausted first-time father”. His black hair looked extra rumpled; he hadn’t found the time to even think about running a comb through it the past few days. Nor had he found the time to change out of the shirt he’d worn yesterday, and then slept in. 

Despite Alec’s constant state of dishevelment, Magnus couldn’t help but think this was the definition of perfection. His love, his cat, and his child, all resting together in the afternoon sunlight streaming in through the open windows. A smile found its way onto Magnus’s face as he watched the Chairman rise and fall along with Alec’s steady breathing. He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, in the middle of the living room, just watching before the baby stirred. Probably longer than he’d like to admit. 

“Good morning, my little blueberry,” Magnus mumbled, leaning in to run his fingertips through Max’s silky blue curls. The baby blinked slowly a couple of times, and thus ended the moment of quietude. As soon as he was fully awake, he made sure it wouldn’t go unnoticed by immediately letting out a shrill cry. Magnus was fairly certain no one enjoyed babies screaming their heads off, and he was absolutely certain the Chairman enjoyed it the least of all. He yowled in discontent and dug his claws into Alec’s stomach in his hurry to get away from the tiny child turned siren. If Alec hadn’t woken up before, he was definitely awake now. Magnus hastily grabbed Max right as Alec sat bolt upright, swearing loudly after the cat that had already left the room without much concern about the language used against him. 

“Good morning to you too,” Magnus told his boyfriend over the wailing. 

“It’s neither good nor morning,” Alec said, swiping his hair out of his eyes. Magnus laughed a little at Alec’s crankiness before starting toward the kitchen to heat up a bottle of formula, bouncing Max gently as he went. 

“I’ll take him,” he said. “You should take a shower.” 

He heard Alec snort behind him. “I love you too.” 

“How can someone so small scream so loud?” Magnus asked no one in particular while he waited for the bottle to heat up. Max decided to answer the question with another round of loud crying. 

“Yeah, I know,” Magnus said dryly to the infant in his arms. “It can’t be easy being blue.” Lately, he’d found himself having one-sided conversations with Max when it was just the two of them. Fatherhood had really made him easy to entertain. A scree from Max confirmed that it indeed _ wasn’t _ easy being blue. Right as Magnus thought he might actually lose his mind at the incessant screaming, the stars aligned and the bottle of baby formula _ finally _ felt like it was the right temperature. An involuntary sigh of relief escaped Magnus as the screaming finally subsided. 

“You’re really in a mood today, huh?” he asked, wiping the tear streaks from Max’s round cheeks with the pad of his thumb. Max let out a little whine around the bottle, though he thankfully didn’t start crying again. “You get that from your father.”

“Should I be offended?”

Magnus turned around to see Alec standing in the doorway, his hair damp and his clothes changed. His eyebrows were raised, but he was smiling. 

“That depends,” Magnus said with a grin. “Are you in a mood?” 

Alec shook his head with a laugh and walked up to Max and Magnus. He bent his head down over his son and poked his little nose. Magnus still hadn’t gotten used to seeing Alec like this, tired, disheveled and unshaven but so unbothered by it, still just high on a love for this tiny little warlock. Max giggled up at Alec, who gave Max’s nose another poke. The sound of his baby’s laughter filled Magnus with a feeling so profound he couldn’t explain it if he tried. 

”I’m really glad we decided to try this,” he mumbled after a moment’s silence. Alec looked up at him with a dazed-looking smile on his lips. He always got that look when Max was happy. Magnus loved that look.

”What?”

”I’m glad we decided to try this,” he said again with a glance down at the baby. ”Parenthood. It’s good.”

”It is,” Alec answered. He snaked his arm around Magnus’s waist and pressed his palm against the small of Magnus’s back. Magnus leaned into Alec with a sigh. Alec gave Magnus’s shoulder a swift kiss before moving further into the kitchen. 

”I need coffee. Want some?” he asked.

Magnus nodded. ”Yeah.”

Being a parent was exhausting, infuriating, time-consuming, and nothing could fuel a caffeine addiction quite like it. It wasn’t something Magnus had ever expected he’d experience, yet here he was. Elbow-deep in family life and loving every second of it. Well. He was pretty sure Max was approximately five minutes away from spitting up over his nice shirt, and he had to admit he didn’t really love _ that _part of parenthood. Most of the other parts, though, he thought to himself as he paced around the kitchen, trying to burp Max. Most of the other parts made life just that much fuller. Even something as plainly mundane as watching Alexander make coffee was improved by family life. Perhaps that was the baby-fueled sleep deprivation talking. 

“Have you seen the sugar?” Alec asked, digging through their pantry. 

“On the counter, dear.”

“Oh. Right. Where I put it.” 

Magnus accepted his cup of coffee with a kiss _ thank you. _ There was nothing like the height of domesticity to make one realize how wonderful life could be. 

  
And then, a minute later, there was nothing like an infant spitting up on one’s expensive clothes to make one _ almost _ reconsider calling life wonderful. Almost.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading and i hope you liked it! as always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated!<3
> 
> if you want to find me on tumblr, it's @gilleboll  
the drawing at the very end is by me!


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